Sonicsgate director: ‘We’ve just got to keep hope’

Sonicsgate producer Jason Reid says Sonics fans can take solace in the fact that we still have an arena deal and we have Chris Hansen. (KIRO Radio/Bill Lennert)

Even though Monday’s announcement that the NBA relocation committee voted to recommend denying a request to move the Sacramento Kings to Seattle, die-hard Sonics fans are not giving up.

“This is a blow, but it’s not a knockout blow by any means,” Sonicsgate Director Jason Reid tells KIRO Radio’s Andrew Walsh Show. “We’re going to keep fighting and keep moving forward because I think it’s just a matter of time before the NBA returns to our market.”

On Monday, some fans might have been reminded of the pain they felt in 2008 when the Sonics left for Oklahoma, but Reid says we’ve come a long way since then.

“We had a team leaving, no hope, no new owner,” says Reid. “We have something tangible to get behind now. I think that now is the time to become even louder. We’ve certainly prided ourselves on saying that we won’t go away or be silent until the NBA returns to Seattle.”

Reid says fans should take solace in the fact that they still have an arena plan in place, and they have the commitment of Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer.

“We don’t know what the NBA is going to do to rectify the situation. We can only look at what Chris Hansen’s done every step of the way so far in this process. He’s handled himself with class and with poise, and he’s been able to negotiate with everybody from the mayor and King County Executive Dow Constantine, to the city council, the King County Council, to the Maloofs,” says Reid.

“I believe that when he has the opportunity to talk to the powers that be, [Chris Hansen]’s going to hopefully be able to work something out. He has about the best shot of anybody to do it. We’ve just got to keep hope.”